Transnational history


Transnational history is an approach in historiography which places emphasis on historical phenomena that are not shaped by national categories such as the movement of people or ideas. According to historian Akira Iriye, "transnational history may be defined as the study of movements and forces that have cut across national boundaries" in a variety of contexts. Originating in American Studies, the term has been applied by historians who seek to avoid taking national history as the "natural" frame for historical analysis and instead look at the past without the framing of the nation state. This redirection of historical studies can be seen as countermove to the fact that the field of history was founded in the 19th century while the nationalist movement was on the rise in Europe. It has some similarities to global or world history.

Origins and definitions

The idea of "transnationalism" can be traced back to 1991 when Ian Tyrrell pioneered this approach in the field of American Studies. It was in the late 1990s that the concept really was developed. Since then the term has been adopted by the field of history. As the concept is still relatively new with the field of history, a consensus has not emerged on how to define the term precisely. There are many competing concepts that emerged in the works of Sebastian Conrad, Kiran Patel, Thomas Adam, Thomas Bender, Daniel T. Rodgers, and Ian Tyrrell. Akira Iriye and Pierre-Yves Saunier define transnational history as having to do with the "connections and circulations" between societies in the modern age. Ian Tyrrell argues that transnational history is related to the Annales school.

Principles

The emergence of transnational history resulted from the growing dissatisfaction among some historians with the study of historical phenomena within the limited and limiting space of nation states. The nation state, which was embraced by many nineteenth-century historians because of its progressive and liberal nature, has in the twentieth century turned into an analytical cage and lost much of its explanatory power. Limiting oneself to the space of any given nation led some historians to study only those pieces and parts of a given historical subject matter that existed within the chosen and artificial national space and caused historians to ignore the complex body of the phenomenon that existed outside of this space. According to transnational historians, most historical phenomena existed not just within one national space but grew just like a tree that develops roots and branches, which stretch and extend into the spaces of other countries, empires, and nations. Studying such phenomena within the space of just one nation always meant to study just one branch or limb cut off from its body.
Transnational history is based upon the fundamental belief that human activities across the globe are interconnected. Inventions developed in one place, minerals unearthed in another, and plants cultivated in yet another place raced across the globe and influenced the creation of cultures and societies in places far away from their point of origin.
Transnational history contributes not only to the de-nationalization and de-territorialization of history, but it also champions a history that is focused on non-state actors. Individuals and non-state agencies are often at the center of transnational history accounts. It further insists on the decentering of history, which has all too often been written from a Eurocentric point of view. This Eurocentric view came with the imposition of chronologies and turning points upon countries of Asia that have little meaning to them. Decentering, thus, also means the creation of new and even multiple chronologies.

Literature